Transcript Science Fiction

How Can You Tell if it’s Science Fiction?
• Story contains futuristic technologytechnology that hasn’t been invented yet.
(Avatar)
• Blends science fact and fictional elements.
(Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs)
• Speculates on what might happen in society if
current trends continue. (2012, Day After
Tomorrow)
• Utopias and the price you pay. (Wall-E)
Themes in Science Fiction
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Love
Justice
Truth
Loyalty
Goodness
Courage
Wisdom
Equality or Fairness
Controversy
• Looking at society and saying “what if” or “why
not” tends to make people uncomfortable.
• Asking us to look at our own society’s inequalities
or dark sides isn’t always pretty.
• Often written for adults so it includes subject
matter not considered appropriate for children.
• Asks us the question of what price will you pay
for a perfect society?
Types of Science Fiction
1. We call out to the Universe to see who
answers… And the Answer is…..
• Dinner is served!
• Look at all the pretty little animals!
• Look at all those resources! And then WWIII.
• Alright! Free labor!
• Big Brother shows up to show us the way.
• Earth is quarantined or slated for destruction.
Types of Science Fiction
2. We go visiting other planets and find more
“primitive” life forms.
• Is it the colonists vs. the Indians all over again?
• Do we destroy another planet’s ecosystem just
because we want the resources?
• Do we give benevolent “help” and move the natives
up to our technological level?
• Do we have a policy of non-intervention?
• Who of us gets to go and benefit from space
exploration?
Avatar
How Science imitates Fiction
• In 1977, NASA launched a probe called Voyager to
explore some of the planets in our solar system.
• Attached to Voyager was a golden record of greetings
in various earth languages and the sounds of nature.
• There was also a star map showing where Earth is
located in relationship to the Milky Way Galaxy, our
home galaxy.
• Voyager is currently leaving the fringes of our solar
system and will continue out into intragalatic space.
• NASA will be able to communicate with Voyager
through 2025
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov
Types of Science Fiction
3. Alternate universes- what would have
happened if big turning points in earth
history had gone the other way?
(Planet of the Apes)
Types of Science Fiction
• 4. Man’s technology gets away from him and
causes problems or destruction. (Terminator,
Stephen King’s The Stand, I am Legend.
Types of Science Fiction
5. Utopia studies and Worst Case scenarios.
• The story really focuses on changes in society
and human relationship interactions.
• Set in another place and time so we can
objectively look at things without having our
prejudices and pre-conceived notions get in
the way.
Is it Science Fiction or Fantasy?
• Fantasy uses elements magic or myth.
• Science Fiction uses more “hard” or “real”
science.
*Lines between the two are often blurred and
hard to define.*
Jules Verne: one of the Founding
Fathers of Science Fiction
• “Anything one man can imagine, other men
can make real.” Jules Verne from Around the
World in Eighty Days.
Jules Verne: Feb. 8, 1928 - Mar. 24, 1905
Inventions and Ideas of Jules Verne
that Came True
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Submarines, especially electric (battery powered)
Televison and newscasts
Skywriting
Space satellites for communication and defense
Solar sails
Rockets and space flight and methods of landing the spacecraft.
Tasers
Videoconferencing or Skyping
Gene splicing, genetic recombination
Subways
Gasoline powered automobiles for the average person
Fax machines
Science Fiction Greats
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Isaac Asimov (January 2,1920-April 6, 1992)
Robert Heinlein (July 7, 1907-May 8, 1966)
Arthur C. Clarke (December 16, 1917-March 19, 2008)
Gene Roddenberry (August 19, 1921-October 24, 1991)
First Science Fiction Magazine: Astounding Science
Fiction
Literary Award for Science Fiction: The Hugo